Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245763 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14712
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Communism was a two-edged sword for the trustees of the former regime. Communist party members and their relatives enjoyed status and privileges, while secret police informants were often coerced to work clandestinely and gather compromising materials about friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We examine the long-term consequences of such connections to the communist regime for life satisfaction in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. We also calculate a monetary equivalent of those effects and empirically test mechanisms. The findings underscore that past communist regime connections have a persistent but differential effect on life satisfaction.
Subjects: 
Communist regime
historical legacy
Eastern Europe
former Soviet Union
life satisfaction
elite networks
Communist party
informants
JEL: 
D60
I31
N00
P26
P36
P52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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